Govt suspends passport of Nirav Modi & Mehul Choksi

New Delhi: Massive searches by the Enforcement Directorate that began on Thursday continued on Friday against Nirav Modi, a jewellery designer and main accused in the PNB scam.

Friday saw raids being conducted in Delhi, Mumbai, Surat and Jaipur. Raids by CBI also continued at various places connected with Mehul Choksi. The investigating agency raided 20 locations belonging to Gitanjali group of companies spread across 6 cities in 5 states.

In the raids diamond, gold and jewellery worth 5649 crore rupees have been seized. CBI also registered a case against Mehul Choksi based on the complaint by PNB.

FIR has been filed against 3 companies of Choksi group, Gitanjali Gems, Gili India and Nakshatra Brand Limited. Apart from crackdown by ED, External Affairs Ministry has also tightened its noose around Nirav Modi. It suspended the validity of passports of Nirav Modi and Mehul Choksi for four weeks.

Amidst reports of Nirav Modi slipping out of the country, Interpol has also been alerted. Agencies have issued diffusion notice through Interpol.

As investigations into the fraud continue, PNB has suspended 8 more employees which has taken the number of suspended PNB officials to 18.